The vault loomed, frozen and silent around them, as Elana stood facing Chernov, her back to the sealed vault door. The soldiers who had escorted her to the vault remained outside, but that still left a dozen extract boosted fighters in the vault with her.

  Sofia stood a few yards to Chernov’s left, her hands buried in her armpits. A distant and vacant expression clouded her face, and the occasional shiver wracked her body. Her bruised eye had turned a painful black, standing in stark contrast to the angry, red gash on her cheekbone.

  Elana scanned the room and barely suppressed a scowl when she spotted a patch of blue hiding in the wall beside the vault door. The uzhas claimed it would die if she took the healing extract, yet there it sat, alive and well in the wall—though probably stuck there unless she bonded with it again. The idea of leaving it there left her oddly satisfied.

  “Koskova,” Chernov said, “you have one opportunity to finish your job before I lose my patience.”

  Elana fought to keep her chin high as she held her tongue.

  Chernov sighed. “I was afraid you’d be stubborn.”

  “The uzhas is alive,” Elana said, “I won’t help you murder it.”

  Chernov strolled behind Sofia. “Perhaps you fail to understand what is at stake here. The uzhasgart represents the might of the Alchemist Guild.” He calmly removed a long blade from a sheath at his waist. “Without it, we are little more than a band of extract pedlars.” Chernov thrust the knife into Sofia’s lower back.

  Sofia’s eyes bulged, and she slumped to the floor with a whimper as Chernov pulled the knife out.

  Elana’s knees turned to sludge, and her breath jammed in her throat. She fought just to remain upright.

  “So you see,” Chernov continued as he wiped the blade clean with a handkerchief, “we cannot afford to release the uzhas. Think of it like… yutzi. You eat them and use their hides for coats. Can they think? Most likely, but that is irrelevant. Now, you have a simple choice: you can decode your notes and finish your job. Or, I can kill you—and your boy, Mikhail Koskov. He returns from his apprenticeship soon, yes?”

  Elana drew a shuddering breath as Sofia moaned softly and curled into a foetal position.

  Chernov glanced down at her. “If you help me, I may consider letting her live. But choose quickly, she won’t live much longer.”

  For a long moment, Elana stared at Sofia, then at Chernov, noting the cold, dead light deep in his steel blue eyes. She knew without a doubt that the same fate waited for her, regardless of whether she helped him. But if she helped him, perhaps he’d leave Mikhail alone.

  I help, the subdued voice of the uzhas said in her mind.

  It’s too late now, Elana said.

  I help, the uzhas repeated, its voice stronger.

  Fine, do what you want, Elana said.

  It slipped through her body and emerged in her boot, and the minds of everyone around her disappeared, replaced by the cursed itch in her head. The itch crawled through her head as the uzhas slunk away from her, a transparent cloud unnoticed by the soldiers.

  “I’m waiting,” Chernov said, a note of impatience creeping into his rumbling voice.

  “All right. I’ll do it.” As the words left her lips, her shoulders slumped.

  “I knew I hadn’t misplaced my faith in you.”

  “First, the heating needs to be on in the chambers,” Elana said, “otherwise the uzhas remains dormant.”

  “You must think I’m a fool if you expect me to turn the heating on.”

  “It’s the only way you can bond with uzhas.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Chernov studied her, his lips a thin line. Finally, he turned to the closest two soldiers. “Shoot her if you suspect anything. And make sure she’s dead.”

  The two masked and hooded soldiers fixed their attention—and crossbows—on Elana. Their eyes carried a hint of madness and rage. They were boosted high on strength, speed, and reflex extracts.

  A key scraped in a lock far behind her and hinges creaked as Chernov entered the control room.

  Elana turned her attention to Sofia as she waited. No matter what Sofia had done, being left to bleed to death in a freezing vault was a harsh way to die.

  Chernov returned. “Chamber one is heated.” He motioned to the soldiers, and they followed Chernov and Elana to the open door of the first chamber, set in the left wall of the vault.

  “Why are you doing this, Chernov Commander?” Elana asked.

  “Survival. The threat from beyond the gates grows worse every year, and each new gate spews out different horrors. The Warrior Guild and the Sentinels are both weak, they refuse to train their soldiers to their full potential. Serovnya will fall within five years under their ‘protection.’ The only way we’ll survive this war is if we control the uzhas.”

  “If we release it, we could ask it to fight for us.”

  “We cannot chance it turning on us. No. It is a simple decision: the future of Serovnya, or the uzhas.” Chernov glanced at her. “I will always choose my nation, and you should too, Koskova.”

  Gooseflesh pricked Elana’s arms as she stared at Chernov, as she took in his complete and utter confidence in what he said. What disturbed her most was how much sense he made…

  Suddenly, her consciousness expanded and a familiar, genderless voice said, You returned.

  Yeah, but don’t ask me why I risked my neck for you.

  “Now,” Chernov said, “show me how to use the uzhas.”

  Perhaps she was wrong to try and protect another race, especially a race that only cared about itself.

  Elana blew out a long breath, which misted before her. “You’re right, Chernov Commander.” She sent quick instructions to the uzhas and removed the last phial of telepathy extract from her coat. “When you take this, you’ll be able to communicate with the uzhas.”

  Chernov’s eyes narrowed. “What else?”

  “Sculpting extract.”

  “And?”

  The itch slid across the back of Elana’s skull as the uzhas moved into position. Without warning, her ability to see minds returned as part of it reentered her system.

  Ready? the uzhas asked.

  On my signal. To Chernov, she said, “It’s too hard to explain without you using the telepathy extract and seeing the world as I do.”

  Chernov drummed his fingers against his leg for a moment before taking the telepathy extract from her. “If she’s lying,” he said to the soldiers, “put a bolt in her kneecap.”

  Elana folded her arms, hugging herself as she willed her expression calm, and prayed no sweat would prick her forehead.

  Chernov unscrewed the phial’s cap, his gaze never leaving Elana’s face. He lifted the extract and curled his nose in disgust.

  “Sorry,” Elana said. “Sofia complained about the smell too.”

  With a grimace, the tall soldier drank the extract.

  Now!

  The vault exploded with action.

  An uzhasgart steam engine flew across the room towards the two soldiers by Elana. They saw it and blurred as, with impossible speed, they dodged the engine.

  Elana cursed the reflex and speed extracts, but at least the uzhas now held their focus.

  Chernov screamed, his fingers tearing at his face, leaving jagged red lines in their wake.

  Elana launched to the panel by the chamber, her movement boosted by the uzhas in her. She yanked at a lever and the floor rumbled beneath her as uzhas poured into the chamber.

  Chernov continued to scream, now on his knees.

  Elana glanced back and saw two soldiers on the far side of the vault lift their crossbows and aim at her. Her eyes went wide, and she dove into the chamber.

  Crossbow bolts ricocheted off the wall by the control panel—right where she’d been standing.

  She scrambled to her feet, her elbows throbbing from landing on them. Uzhas pooled around Elana, and she looked through it, seeing the grey line stretching down to one of the huge tanks below.

  Elana focused on the un-bonded uzhas and hesitated. She shut her eyes and tried to ignore Chernov’s screaming, the yells from his soldiers, and the crashes of the rampaging uzhas.

  An odd calm swept over her as she watched the uzhas surrounding her turn blue while it transformed to gas.

  If she didn’t bond, Alchemist sculptors would continue to murder the dormant uzhas beneath her to make weapons.

  But if she bonded, what would happen to her mind? Would she remember who she was? Would she remember her son? Would she even be herself?

  A knot wedged itself in her throat.

  Elana, hurry! the uzhas said. Chernov has recovered.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she extended her mind to the cobalt haze swirling around her.